Sierra Club files complaint against Canwest for oil advertorials

Sierra Club Canada has filed a complaint with Advertising Standards
Canada, alleging that Canwest has been running advertising for Shell
Canada disguised as news content.

Marketing Magazine reports:

“The complaint, filed Wednesday, concerns the New Energy Future series, which ran with the words “in partnership with Shell Canada” in several Canwest regional papers and its nationally distributed National Post.

“The series focuses on Shell’s environmental initiatives, profiles Shell employees and some end with a “Myth Buster” section that portray Shell’s operations in the Alberta oil sands in a positive light.

“The Toronto Star ran the New Energy Future content today, as a six-page pull-out section containing several of the stories that have appeared in the Canwest papers.

“Sierra Club, an Ottawa-based environmental organization that has being trying to halt the oil sand’s expansion, initially brought its concerns to the Canwest-owned Ottawa Citizen. The series was running in the paper’s front section and were attributed to Brian Burton, who wrote the pieces as a freelancer for Canwest.”